NEWS

Raising Of Leopold's Statue In Drc Sparks Controversy In Africa And New Interest In African Film Festival

February
2007

RAISING OF LEOPOLD'S STATUE IN DRC
SPARKS CONTROVERSY IN AFRICA AND NEW INTEREST IN AFRICAN FILM
FESTIVAL
by Elombe Brath

When the BBC aired a broadcast which reported
that the statue of the infamous Belgian King Leopold II had
been ordered to, both literally and figuratively, dragged
out the mothballs by Christophe Muzungu, the Minister of Culture
of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and have the 19th century
monument of the monarch raised in Kinshasa, the country's
capital, all hell broke loose. Viewers were alarmed that such
a thing could happen in today's DRC, which is struggling to
rehabilitate its history as a victim of Belgium's brutal colonization
period and its subsequent neocolonial dictatorship under Mobutu,
who has been compared by many to have ruled as if he wanted
to be an African Leopold.

This issue caused many Congolese, as well
as other African people around the world, to reminisce about
the cruel European colonial domination Africans had been forced
to endure since the conclusion of the Berlin Conference of
November 1884-February 1885 and the paradoxical negative symbolic
gesture of once again raising a monument in the likeness of
Leopold II, the infamous 19th century brutal monarch who wantonly
butchered his African subjects. Instead of keeping the sculpture
covered in the basement of the nation's archives or creating
a National Museum of Historical Horrors where it could be
displayed as a reminder to educate the broad masses of Congolese
what the world had allowed to aggravate their suffering on
the alter of white supremacist racism, Leopold was given an
undue measure of respect. To exhibit the statue of the most
despiteous representative of European colonization in Kinshasa,
alongside the city where statues of former Prime Minister
Patrice Lumumba and former President Laurent Kabila - both
martyred by imperialists and racists who sought to prevent
their country's independence and people's right to self-determine
the Congo's liberation - was dispiriting.

When I rushed down to the DRC's Mission to
the United Nations, Ambassador Atoki Ileka, to enquire whether
the report true or not, he told me that it was but that when
President Joseph Kabila, who has been busily engaged in trying
to protect his country's territorial integrity, was appraised
of the situation, he rescinded Muzungu's edict and ordered
the controversial offensive statue to be returned to storage.
I was relieved, but, like many others, still disturbed.

But the issue surrounding what historical
role does Leopold represent in the Congo's interest, believe
it or not, has also been raised again. In spite of the fact
that Leopold's heinous 23-year long oppressive, genocidal
and exploitive rule of the Congolese people had been known
for years, his sheer brutality finally became so outrageous
that it drew the outrage of his European allies, some folks
still wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt of Christian
charity. Nonetheless, the overwhelming knowledgeable people
of the world have concluded that the Belgian king's exploits
could no longer be tolerated because, ironically, they were
embarrassing European's claims to be the paradigms of western
civilization. Thus, by the Leopold was forced to give up his
self-proclaimed "Congo Free State" and turn over
his privatized huge African territory which was 80 times larger
than Belgium (which then became the infamous Belgian Congo
in 1908), he had enriched himself by over $10 million while
causing – and costing - the lives of more than 10 million
Congolese people, with thousands being maimed by having their
hands cut off because they didn't produce enough rubber to
match the mad king's quota demands.

It is for all of these reasons that the recent
controversy and outrage has also sparked a new interest in
reviewing the historic documentary "Congo: White King,
Red Rubber, Black Death", which was also a BBC documentary
produced by Peter Bates that made its U.S. premiere this past
December 4th, during the 2004 African Diaspora Film Festival,
held annually by Reinaldo Barroso-Spech and Diarah N'Daw Speck's
production company ArtMattan. The film's mind-blowing presentation
helped spur the rescheduling of the "highlights of the
best of the cinema offerings" from November 26th to December
12th, 2004 season to begin Friday evening of Friday 11, 2005
and run until Thursday, February 17th. As a result, it is
very timely that one of the films that is rescheduled to be
shown is "Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death",
which will be screened this Sunday, February 13th –
ironically the 44th anniversary of the announcement of the
assassination of Patrice Lumumba - at 4:30 PM at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music, at Lafayette Avenue and Ashland Street in
downtown Brooklyn.

What initiated the outrage against Minister
Mzungu's arbitrary decision to once again publicly display
the monument of the man whose monstrous behavior actually
made his fellow European colonialists ashamed of their association
by presumably giving a bad name to alleged western civilization,
was the fact that it is impossible for any sane person to
try to diminish the mad Belgian king's cruel crimes against
humanity in his decimation of the Congolese forcibly in his
employ for nearly a quarter of century rule. Indeed, Mark
Twain, in his classic "King Leopold's Soliloquy",
specifically denounced the U.S. as the "godfather of
the Congo graveyard" because of its outright support
to Leopold's bloody reign, which covered the administrations
of five U.S. Presidents: Chester B. Arthur (21st president),
1881-85; Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th), 1885-85 and 1893-97;
Benjamin Harrison (23rd), 1889-1893; William McKinley (25th)
1897-1901; and Theodore Roosevelt (26th), 1901-1909.

The importance of the film "Congo: White
King, Red Rubber, Black Death" to the current discussions
and debates regarding the DRC today are not just by chance
or happenstance. Neither is it just a major added feature
of the African Diaspora Film Festival; nor is the Leopold
biopic's significance an exception but the rule. While "White
King, Red Blood, Black Death" is indeed an important
attraction, the entire festival is replete with great film
features of various types, genre and styles. From Friday,
February 11th through Thursday, February 17th, movies from
the Pan-African world will be shown throughout the day depicting
the everyday life of African people interfacing with each
other or with other peoples from or in other localities around
the globe. Whether a dramatic 35 millimeter feature like "Denying
Brazil" or the BETA "African Blood and Afro-Argentines",
focusing on the racial situation in South America's largest
Black country and its major nation which has purged its Black
population, respectively, viewers will get a chance to see
two Latin American nations with a similar problems regarding
race in two widely different demographics.

There are also two films featuring different
expressions of Black womanhood, "Silence, In Search of
Black Female Sexuality" or "Raise Your Voice: Sweet
Honey in the Rock"; or a children friendly cartoon like
the ever popular "Kirikou and the Sorceress"; or
other features like "Au Pair Chocolat", "Gulpiili:
One Red Blood", "How to Conquer America", or
any of the other four films that will fill out the six day
showcase. All are beautiful, intriguing and entertaining,
although with different tastes. "Congo" will also
be repeated on Monday, February 14th, and the schedules and
information concerned with all the movies to be screened can
be obtained by calling (212) 864-1760 or going to the website
at http://www.NYADFF.org.